Stories for a seeker

Newly Published "The Flowing Bridge" offers instruction and guidance on prayer and meditation

By Elaine MacInnes, O.L.M.
May/June 2008

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Being an octogenarian has no caution for a missioner. There are encounters to grace each aging step. This came to mind during a happy book-launch recently, when Toronto-based Our Lady's Missionaries joined me in the rooms of the beautiful Edward Day Art Gallery on West Queen Street. The event was sponsored by Freeing the Human Spirit, a small charity by which we carry out a program of bringing hope and healing to inmates at Canadian correctional institutes through the practice of yoga and meditation.

Sr. Elaine MacInnes and her new book entitled "The Flowing Bridge: Guidance on beginning Zen koans", which gives a hint of the enigmatic nature of the koan-a powerful tool in the practice of Zen meditation.

Wisdom Publications 10/07 Paperback $16.95
ISBN: 9780861715459

Since becoming of age, my current missionary efforts consist principally in writing. About a year ago, I had been asked by Wisdom Publishers of Boston to write a book of instructions and guidance for those whose prayer is at the experience stage of meditation. The book, entitled "The Flowing Bridge: Guidance on beginning Zen koans", gives a hint of the enigmatic nature of the koan – a powerful tool in the practice of Zen meditation.

Zen koans, such as the well known, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?", are not supposed to be understood with the intellect. The way to work on a koan is not to bring it into the light and examine it. We cannot solve a koan with the intellect, with memory, with our emotions, with our imagination, or with our will. None of these instruments of light (as I call them) can bring us to the enlightenment we seek in Zen sitting. We work on a koan by entering the silence and darkness and allowing the koan to work on us.

Books pass through a virtual metamorphosis before they appear on a bookstore shelf. Dr. Ruben Habito, friend and mentor, handled the major part of the first stage of this book. He not only wrote a brilliant introduction, but also chose the material from my assorted writing of long ago. The second stage is getting all the material in book form under the discerning eye of the publisher. Friend and colleague Patrick Gallagher was my persevering editor in Toronto.

Finally it all came together and the launch was celebrated by a host of associates, disciples, and friends. Zen cooks provided their own enticing fragrances and flavours in a wide variety of finger foods. And my nephew Ray Landry, utilizing his gift for mimicry and impersonation, entertained us with his humorous depictions of some of Canada's prime ministers and other world famous figures as they contemplate the koan of the flowing bridge: "the bridge is flowing but the river is not."

My deep gratitude to those who helped bring this book to fruition and to all who helped to celebrate its launching.

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